Between Life and Death
by faithinfools
Summary: Lizzie is sick of it. Sick of the thing everyone calls life. Can Will stop her from doing something that she will regret? Read and please R&R. Modern P&P, hope you like it! I know the summary is crap, so please just read it :)


Short one-shot, hope you like it

Faithinfools

P.S. I dont own any of the characters, just as a disclaimer.

* * *

"Will, Will, wait for me Will!" A little girl shouted as she raced after the older boy. She was running a few metres behind him, cursing her mother for making her wear the pink dress with the bows all over it. Her hair was in pigtails that were quickly falling out, releasing her flowing curly hair behind her. The older boy laughed and waited. He looked behind him at the younger girl smiling. She was so bright with happiness at being released and free that he could not help but smile at her.

"That wasn't fair Will. You didn't give me a fair shot." She pouted, her bottom lip jutting out in an expression that Will thought was comical.

"Not my fault, I'm just too fast for you to catch me Squirt." She snorted.

"As if. I could have beaten you any day, were it not for this dress my mother put me in. She's going to have an attack of the nerves when she sees me in this." They both laughed, carefree. Two children happy, in their small infinite world.

"Come I want to show you something." Will said impatiently, walking fast.

"Will! You're too fast! Slow down!" As she tried to keep up the younger girl tripped. Before she felt the ground, she felt two strong arms holding her up and saw two blue eyes staring intensely down at her in concern.

"Are you okay Lizzie? I promise to walk slower." Even at the young age of 12 she knew that what she saw was something special and it took her breath away as she stood up slowly.

"Yes. Thank you Will." She said, her voice shaky. They walked together in a companionable silence to the end of the Pemberley estate, where the cliffs were situated. When she saw the view she gasped. "Oh Will, it's so beautiful." He smiled at her.

"I know. My mother and I used to come here for picnics all the time." He said with a hint of saddness in his voice. He was only 15 years of age. Lizzie saw the sadness and came up next to him, intertwining her hand in his, smiling up at him reassuringly.

"Thank you for sharing this with me Will. Your mother would be proud to see where you have come today." He squeezed his hand gently.

"I know." He said quietly looking down. Blushing at the sight of their intertwined hands. She knew he needed space and walked over, closer to the edge of the cliff smiling as she felt the salty wind, blow back her shining, brown hair. She was on the very edge of the cliff now. She knew it was dangerous but she loved the feeling. She took a step further but she had not counted on the rock that was underneath her left foot to give way. She was slipping she was falling. She closed her eyes in terror. But she felt two strong hands catch her and pull her away from the cliff. She opened her eyes. Her head was on his lap as he looked down at her.

"Will? I really must stop falling so that you can stop having to catch me." She started to laugh but stopped abruptly as she looked into Will's eyes. There was something there, something intense but she couldn't put her finger on it. What was it? "Will?"

"Elizabeth Bennet. If you should ever fall, I will always be there to catch you, I promise." He said solemnly. They stayed like that until it was dark, until it was time to face the real world again. They walked back hand in hand.

* * *

_10 years later_

__She had to escape. She had to run. It was the only way. She stopped her car in front of the large manor and ran. Ran for her life, leaving everything in her car. She was almost there she could feel the wind beckon to her. She stopped as she saw the edge of the cliff. The sun was setting. Had it really been ten years since she'd been here? She took a deep breath and put her feet as close as she could to the edge without falling and looked down. It was an awfully long way down, just the ocean below, the waves crashing into the side of the cliff, getting stronger and stronger as the tide came in. She took a deep breath.

"NOOOOOO!" She turned around, stunned. He was there. He who had caused it all, panting, trying to catch his breath. "No. Lizzie, stop. I beg of you, don't do it." Tears came to her eyes as she drank in the sight of his face.

"I have to Will, it's the only way."

"No, Lizzie, come over here, we can talk about this."

"No we can't Will, it's too late for talking."

"Lizzie, please." He was almost in tears now. "Where did it all go wrong? Tell me. Where?"

"Where Will? Where? It went wrong when you told me I wasn't pretty enough, when you insulted my family, when you broke the relationship of my beloved sister, when you got engaged to her, the bloody she-devil. Where did it all go wrong Will? That's where it all went wrong." She looked away, out over the ocean. "Where did the happy young boy, I knew as a child go?" She whispered.

"He's still here. I promise Elizabeth. He's still here."

"It's a bit too late for your promises Fitzwilliam." He flinched at her use of his full name.

"You don't understand. She had me cornered. She made me get engaged to her. Did you ever think that I would happily get engaged to Caroline Bingley? Well you were wrong. She knows. She knows about Georgie." He whispered. "I need to save her. I want her to be happy, to become the person she once was. She's 18 now. She's legal but she still shies away from everything."

"You don't understand Will."

"No. I don't understand. You're right Lizzie. How could you do this to your family? Your father? Your sister? Your friends?" She flinched at his harsh words of reality. "Why would you do it? Lizzie, you have to stop. You can't do this to yourself or anyone else. I know what happens when you lose someone close to you, don't let it happen to them." He said, his tone softening. Her eyes teared up but then hardened.

"No Will. You don't understand. I can't do it. I can't do it anymore. There is no reason for me to be here. Not anymore." She said softly, her voice floating in the wind.

"I don't understand Lizzie. Why?"

"Why? Why?" She shouted, visibly shaking now.

"Because I fell in love with you. That's why." He stood still, shocked. "Where did it all go wrong Will? It went wrong when I was stupid enough to fall in love with you."

"Lizzie... I love you too. Surely, you must know that." She nodded. "Then why this Lizzie, why this?"

"Because we can't be together Will. Not in this life and not in the next. Hell, not even in forever, because you know what Will? I was stupid and naive enough to believe that love existed. Well I was wrong."

"Lizzie we can fix this, I can fix this. We can make it better again just step away from the edge."

"No Will. It's too late. You deserve a happy life and I can't give you that."

"Why Lizzie? I'll break my engagement to Caroline, get married to you and you, me and Georgie can live happily ever after." She laughed, a harsh sound.

"Happily ever after Will? Please. That's just a joke. One big lie to get people to believe. Well they were wrong. No. You deserve better than me. You can't love me."

"Lizzie, what's wrong. Why are we so wrong?"

"Because." She said softly. He had to lean in to hear her as she murmured, "I only have three weeks."

"What?" She turned to look at him.

"I only have three weeks! I am going to die Will! You can't live with me for the rest of your life. You can't." She was sobbing now, shouting at him all the while.

"How long have you known Lizzie? How long?"

"Four years Will. Four long, harsh years." He looked shocked.

"So when I...?"

"Yes Will. The exact day you left me. You left me standing like a god damned fool at the airport."

"I didn't know... I didn't..."

"It doesn't matter now Will. You still left me and I didn't even know why. You cut yourself off from me, you turned into stone. The bright and happy boy I knew as a child died."

"I... My father... And Wickham..." He said trailing off.

"You left me. Standing at the airport and I never even knew what I did wrong. All I knew was that you left me. Even after I begged you to stay, even after you said you would come back in a few weeks. Well guess what? You never did, and I was the blind fool who believed you. A piece of me died that day, I was so alone. I told no one, not you, not Charlotte, not father, hell, not even Jane. I was gone."

"What is it? What is it that is killing you?"

"A brain tumour. It's too late for anything now."

"But Lizzie, we can fix it and then you can..." She screamed in frustration.

"No Will. Don't you get it? You can't fix it. It's too late for anything. It was too late when you left me four years ago. I lost everything Will. Don't you get it? I lost everything." She said bitterly. "Now it doesn't matter anymore. I've sent out a letter to Jane, to my father, to everyone who I cared about. My will is ready to be read. Everything is ready. Everything is done. Now all I need to do is to fall Will."

"No Lizzie don't..."

"Goodbye Will." Elizabeth said as she felt herself fall into the ocean. Her eyes closed. She felt a pressure on her hand as she fell and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Remember Elizabeth? If you should ever fall, I will always be there to catch you, I promise."


End file.
